Dust mops have long been used in industrial applications such as in warehouses, schools, and stores as a means of dusting and cleaning the floor quickly and easily. The common industrial dust mop is used with a generally rectangular wire frame having a central handle receiving bar to which one end of a long handle can be releasably attached. Washable or discardable mop covers are removably mounted on the frame. In general, such mop covers comprise a fabric backing supporting a tufted bottom surface including either a multitude of tufted yarns or mop fringe sewn to the backing, both types forming a field of mopping yarns that contact and dust as the mop is pushed across the floor. The mop cover can be releasably mounted to the frame by any number of attaching means including tie strings, mechanical snaps, pockets that receive the ends of the frame of the mop, or combinations of both. With this arrangement, mop covers can be fixed to the mop frame, used to mop the floor and, when soiled, can be removed and washed for reuse, or discarded.
Such dust mops, however, exhibit inherent shortcomings related generally to the fact that the mopping surface is provided only on the bottom of the mop cover. This limits the usefulness of the covers since they must be removed and cleaned when the mopping surface gets soiled. Further, workers tend to keep using the mops after they become too soiled to be effective, to avoid the task of removing and replacing the soiled cover.
Some attempts have been made to address such shortcomings by providing mops with reversible mop covers having a mopping surface on both the top and bottom side of the cover. One example of such a mop is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,223 to Buchanan. This mop includes a specially formed mop frame and handle assembly adapted to receive on its frame a two sided mop cover that is formed in a shape of an elongated envelope. The mop handle is specifically designed to be pivoted through a slot in the back side of the mop frame to either side thereof. The envelope-shaped mop cover is sized to be inserted over the front edge of the mop frame to cover the frame. The cover is provided with slots that correspond to and align with the slot in the mop frame to allow the mop handle to pivot back and forth through the cover and through the frame. In this way, the mop can be reversed for use of either side of the cover by turning the entire assembly over.
While this device represents an improvement over single sided dust mops, it nonetheless exhibits certain problems and shortcomings inherent in its own design. For example, since the two sided mop cover is shaped as an elongated envelope with an open side that is slipped over the front edge of the mop frame, the cover must be attached to the frame by means of tie strings or other fasteners. This is because as the mop is pulled backwards across a surface, the friction between the mop cover and the surface tends to pull the mop cover forward off of the front edge of the mop frame. Thus, changing the mop cover remains an unwelcome task since the tie strings tend to become knotted and difficult to untie. In addition, the device of the Buchanan patent requires a specially made, pivoting mop frame that is not of the most commonly used or standard configuration. Thus, a user must also purchase special mop handles and mop frames as well as mop covers in order to use the Buchanan device.
Other examples, of attempts to provide two sided mops are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,919 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,536, both to Siemund. These patents disclose sponge mops in which more than one side of a sponge can be used to clean a floor. Both of these patents illustrate fairly complex and custom made devices that are not adapted for use as industrial dust mops.
Thus, there exists a continuing and heretofore unaddressed need for a two sided, reversible dust mop cover that fits on and works with standard industrial mop frames. Such a cover should be easily installable on standard mop frames without the absolute need for tie strings or other fasteners, should include on both sides a mopping medium such as tufted of a wound fringe of yarns, should be easily removed and turned over for use of its clean side when the other side becomes soiled, and should be able to be manufactured efficiently and economically. It is to the provision of such a reversible mop cover that the present invention is primarily directed.